


In The Cover Of Nightshade

by milesabovepeter



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:14:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3965728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milesabovepeter/pseuds/milesabovepeter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Sonic Adventure 2 Inspired fic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge: Germination

A collaboration Sonic fic between [radioactivesupersonic](http://tmblr.co/m2UafjHIDQaAMv1wZXc0l6A) and yours truly

**Prologue:** _Germination_

****

Civilization had forgotten the island- but the plants hadn’t. Long lost and isolated, there was nothing outside their grasp. In the heart of the island, thick jungle creepers climbed the spires and armored walls of a fortress- now little more than skeletons strangled by the greenery.  Wild roots and vines cracked through the leaf-strewn foundations, tearing it open so that sunlight spilled into most of the lower rooms. The suffocating tropical humidity bathed everything in an eerie sense of silence. 

Silence, except for what could only be described as humming. For deep within one of the forgotten labs, amidst cracked computer screens and chipped glass beakers, was a woman with forest green hair. She spun around in place, her white labcoat fluttering in her wake. Her music lacked any sort of melody but filled the quiet space as she began skipping from her various potted projects: several gorgeous, enormous flowers, almost threatening to overflow their containers. A few were smaller, but bore the unmistakable, vivid colorations of poisonous plants. One of them, something that looked akin to a Venus Flytrap seemed to be dancing to its creator’s tune. 

“Oh, Sandra, you are the only one who really understands me,” the woman cooed as she watered the carnivorous plant.  A dark-skinned hand skirted lightly over one of the leaves, soil caked under each fingernail. “Not like those hacks at the International Botany Protection Agency. You do one experiment that lets a rose emit a possibly lethal gas and suddenly you’re a ‘danger to society’ and ‘not a true lover of science _or_ nature’! What do they know?” 

The plant continued to bob amicably to her soft words, if not very sympathetic in its poise. That was fine- she valued them mostly for their listening skills, not necessarily for the ability to provide empathy in response. 

“And so alas, such genius like mine is best left in solitude. I was lucky enough a colleague of mine from high school told me about this this island. Ivo was always looking out for me. It has been a while since I’ve spoken to my best friend.” She sighed dreamily, leaning on the counter. “That one time we blew up a classroom… Oh, but then he had to start fooling around with those _robots_ of his. Bioengineering is the _true_ face of the future.”

Her rose colored eyes flashed angrily as she placed her round hands on her hips. 

“Just you wait, Ivo, old buddy, with my newest creation I’ll show you how wrong you were.” She spun herself away from the corner table towards the island in the middle of the room. There were several vials of blood. A few had what looked like spores suspended at the top, or swirling in the lower glass. One, however, had sunk roots into the mixture, the blood around it taking on a greenish tone. 

She surveyed their contents, ran a pensive finger over the glass of the last vial, and smiled thinly. Iris had heard rumors of her old friend’s power, about how he had come so far with his obsession of tin cans that he turned parts of himself into one. The thought originally had disturbed her but then it gave her a spark of brilliance.  

If something so unnatural could be melded to human flesh- something much closer, much more wholesome- wasn’t out of the question at all.

She’d see that stubborn guardian again in the morning. Give her one last chance to change her mind. Until then she’d have to settle for her experiments. 

Iris twirled towards one of the more monstrous plants and pointed a finger. The plant shifted, then coiled defensively on itself. A particularly poetic mind could imagine that it seemed to bow, dipping its stalk towards her.

Oh this was going to be fun, indeed.


	2. A Cordial Vist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **“Rouge.” he replied thinly- softly.**

a Sonic collaboration between [radioactivesupersonic](http://tmblr.co/m2UafjHIDQaAMv1wZXc0l6A) and yours truly

 **Team Spinel** , _Ch: 1 A Cordial Visit_

Angel Island. Six thousand tons of rock and enough dead technology to make any self-respecting anthropologist salivate, suspended in the air as the world’s greatest and mightiest one-fingered salute to the general concept of gravity.

Rouge could appreciate a place with those kind of aesthetics. Alighting gently on the shores of Azure Lake Zone, she rolled her shoulders in the warm, subtropical air. Could appreciate a lot of things about this island, really. Gazing over the cloudless expanse of blue, she could faintly see the rust-colored ceramic tiles of Hydrocity- a tempting, if roundabout route to the island’s core, if she was trying to get a jump on its Guardian. 

But no, there would be absolutely no scrounging in tunnels today. She had an invitation. Shadow had joked that she need to pick her jaw off the floor when she had received it. With a flick of a featherless wing, she set off across the green, one hand settled on the brim of her hat. 

Just because she wasn’t flattered by the interest that had somehow, _finally_ gotten through that echidna’s thick skull to his mouth, didn’t mean she wasn’t about to get him back a bit. It wasn’t much- a nice sundress, hemmed in her favorite shade of magenta, and a broad brim staying the high-altitude sun from her eyes. But it’d do nicely. 

“You look nice today.” A soft voice observed.

It took about ten years of government conditioning that Rouge didn’t jump out of her pelt. She wheeled around to face the voice.

Tikal voiced a soft chuckle, muffling it behind one hand. 

Chaos Control. After all the time she spent with Shadow, Rouge should’ve just been completely jaded to the concept of people materializing out of thin air with a parting smell of ozone- only _Shadow_ she could hear coming, a crackling hum followed by the small _pop_ of a hedgehog-sized mass breaching through the near side of reality.

Rouge shook her head. “One of these days, you’re going to have to teach me how you do that.”

“Oh, I’m sure Shadow could instruct you just fine.” The echidna’s placid eyes gleamed with excitement- a small smile tugged at the edge of her mouth.

It didn’t go unnoticed as Rouge grinned in a way that showed just a little too much teeth to be completely benign. “What, and miss out on the look on his face once I pull off his favorite party trick without him? I’ll pay you back, teach you how to pick a computerized lock. Easy, really. Can practically do it in your sleep, once you get the hang of it.”

“What are you trying to do, teach her to be a thief like you?”

This time, there wasn’t even a flinch to suppress. Even gliding, Knuckles just disrupted too much air to get past her ears. Rouge turned with a winning smile. “Teaching her to have _fun_ like I do. Four thousand years old, time to learn to live a little. _You_ could learn to live a little.” She followed the statement with a wink, and let his imagination do the rest.

From the fact that his beak flushed nearly the color of his fur, she knew she’d hit the mark. It didn’t help that he’d obviously just noticed her choice of clothing and its rather flattering neckline. 

Knuckles fidgeted. Tikal regarded the lake nearby with an utterly beatific look. “That aqueduct needs adjusting.” She declared, apropos of seemingly nothing. “I think I’ll go attend to that, shall I?”

She was gone in a twinkle of crimson light before Knuckles could even try and sputter protest.

What followed was a supremely awkward one-sided silence, one that Rouge took the moment to appreciate.

Knuckles muttered something that might have been about the weather.

“Knuckles,” 

He looked her in the eye and then immediately looked away.

“You got my invitation, I see.”

She shook her head lightly, suppressing laughter. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. It’s not like it could get lost in the mail.”

There was a slight twitch under Knuckles’ eye that he was fighting valiantly to suppress. For a moment, she realized he didn’t look entirely well- a bit tired, a bit scruffier than usual- over his usual gloves he was wearing an intimidating pair of steel gauntlets, their points swept forwards in wicked hooks. She hadn’t seen that particular pair of claws since they’d met.

“You okay, Red?” It wasn’t something she’d usually voice- he was a survivor. But this was troubling in otherwise sunny skies- literally and metaphorically. Eggman had gone underground- even G.U.N.’s radar hadn’t picked up anything. They’d seen fit to give her extended leave- heck, Omega had been sulking around the shooting range for weeks because he’d run out of leads to brutalize.

So what was troubling Knuckles that some of the finest radar equipment on the planet hadn’t found?

****

“Rouge.” he replied thinly- softly. “We need to talk.”


	3. A Morning Glitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **The AI gave a full body glitch, a combination of her lack of rest and a visible wince.**

a Sonic collaboration between [radioactivesupersonic](http://tmblr.co/m2UafjHIDQaAMv1wZXc0l6A) and yours truly

 **Team Lazurite** , _Ch. 2: A Morning Glitch_

Nicole’s right eye glitched after having spent the entire night staring at the screen in front of her. Most Mobians would assume that a being like herself wouldn’t need sleep, what with being a highly advanced AI program able to physically come in contact with world around her. What people didn’t know was just how much energy both the ring and herself needed to focus to keep her form.

So while she had pushed herself well beyond parameters twelve hours ago and it raised her capacity in the process,  this was particularly dangerous. But her brain kept running the numbers and going over the data repeatedly, ignoring that tiny voice telling her to return to Sally’s room, find her ‘body’ and go bed. The strange energy readings she was getting here in Acorn Forest, the reports by the Freedom Foundation agents of something wandering around in the darkness, missing records from libraries. All the clues point to Eggman being back in activity, but things weren’t aligning. Little things that had been keeping her up all night: no data was stolen digitally from any of the premises- a complete absence of any kind of electromagnetic signals, actually. Which was beyond worrying. There had also been several samples of dead leaves found at the sites-but not much else.

“Nicole?” Her black pointed ear twitched at the voice, picking up on the smallest sense of slurredness.  In the doorway to her right, letting out a loud yawn, stood the secret organizations founder. The sleek lines of her uniform were crumpled slightly, though she tried to rectify it with half-hearted swats. The sigil on her shoulder matched Nicole’s: a small animal, the same vivid blue as the main body of the uniform, curled in on itself. Stylized spines radiated out from the center, curved like shark fins… or the teeth of a whipping whirlwind. 

Surprisingly, what stood out most on the outfit wasn’t how it made her look like some sort of spy, but rather the blue sleeveless jacket she wore over it.  It was a gift from her teacher and Nicole’s ‘father’, Dr. Elidy before he left the castle.

It was worth mentioning that Nicole’s best friend and leader also happened to be a princess. 

“Sally! I didn’t know you were still…” Awake. By a few definitions of the world. The ground squirrel looked all but dead on her feet. Sally gave a weak smile as she shuffled into the room. 

“What are you talking about, Nic? It’s morning.” Sally rubbed a gloved hand over right eye, a sky blue ring band visible as her sleeve slipped back just a bit. She stopped next to Nicole and glanced up at the screen. This seemed to jolt her awake, as her brow knit in confusion before her eyes popped open. “Nicole...”

The AI gave a full body glitch, a combination of her lack of rest and a visible wince.

“Now Sally, before-”

“You were working on this  two days ago!” Sally huffed in anger, her brain finally firing on full cylinders, “Now I know why I hadn’t seen you. You promised you’d stop the allnighters after the last time!”

“Okay in a moment but first can I show what I was working on?”

“Talk to  me while you recharge,” Without another utterance, Sally pressed a button on her band. Nicole pouted as she vanished back into the digital space. Sally yawned, approaching the computer desk and scanning over the files that were open. “So what am I looking at?”

“Our recent bout of Eggman activity. None of it is adding up. Actually I’m not even sure we’re adding. I feel like I’m trying to perform algebra but this has been geometry the entire time.” A pause. “Sleep-deprived analogies aside, historically, things haven’t gone well when Eggman starts randomly grabbing a bunch of seemingly unrelated data, and I’m trying to figure out the connection before he, I don’t know, blows up the other half of the moon.”

Sally nodded at what she was told, forgetting that Nicole wasn’t beside her at the moment. 

“I see what you’re saying. Archeology articles from Spagonia University, dissertations about ancient civilizations and numerous papers about Chaos mythos  from Station Square College,. Some of it seems pretty standard for him- but then you have the break-in at Monopole’s Botanical Society, and a lot of the archeological records are about agricultural practices- not about weapons or war like he usually goes for. Not to mention that all of stolen works were in paper. The digital copies were left untouched.” Sally tilted her head slightly in confusion, spreading her fingers against the counter’s surface.

“And if there were digital copies in the first place, it doesn’t explain why a hacker of his caliber would waste resources going after the physical ones.” Nicole concurred.

Sally frowned, a hand cupping to her lips. “Do you think this has anything to do with Antoine’s… odd report?”

Nicole paused. “The one where he said he was attacked by a sycamore? It… did happen while we were investigating one of the break-ins, but I don’t really… He’s a good agent and a reliable friend, but sometimes you have to admit he’s not always on track.”

“Yes but normally he doesn’t refuse to drop it for three weeks.” Sally tapped at the screen, bringing up a rather formal-looking report whose contents were filled with a judicious amount of capital letters and several underlines. Sally admitted to herself that Antoine did have a habit of embellishing the facts about his missions over drinks, especially ones where he had turned tail more often than kick some. But he wouldn’t lie about the facts on his reports- so for better or for worse, he certainly believed what he’d put down. 

“Did Mighty and Ray ever report back about that possible Eggman base they were trying to find?”

“Just this morning.” Sally smiled at how knowing a disembodied voice could sound. 


	4. Creeping In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **What a girl does for a little flattery and a shy look**

a Sonic collaboration between [radioactivesupersonic](http://tmblr.co/m2UafjHIDQaAMv1wZXc0l6A) and yours truly

 **Team Spinel** , _Ch. 3: Creeping In_

Gliding over warm, tropical eddies, Rouge ran the contents of yesterday’s talk over in her mind.

_“Here’s what I know for sure: something is resonating with the Master Emerald.”_

_“Like a Chaos Emerald?”_

_Knuckles shook his head. “Different. The Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds draw to each other- it’s like opposite ends of a magnet. This is… more like repulsion. Over the last couple of weeks, the reaction has been getting stronger and stronger- which means whatever’s affecting the Emerald is strengthening, too.”_

_“While worrying, we didn’t think it was too great a problem until Chaos manifested.” Tikal offered, her hands folded in her lap. “Since Sonic and I were able to pacify him, he usually exists only in Angel Island’s water supply- never leaving it, unless…”_

_“In the event of a calamity. The last time he came out was when Emerl showed up, and that nearly ended the world.” Knuckles surmised.  “We need to find whatever’s causing this reaction- and we can’t leave Angel Island exposed. I’m not about to ask someone else to do my duty for me, and…” A pause. He scuffed at the ground with one thumb, not meeting her eye. “You’re… the best person I could think of to pull it off.”_

Skimming low enough to feel the sea spray, she pulled up abruptly, wings beating rapidly to gain altitude. Up ahead, a huge, domed structure took shape, barely visible against the encroaching night.

“What a girl does for a little flattery and a shy look,” Rouge sighed, fluttering towards a likely landing spot. Eggman seemed to have a thing for islands- probably because the smaller, less regulated ones were one of the few places he could actually hide those metal monstrosities of his. She touched down in the shade of a huge jungle fern, pushing up one of its fronds to squint further inside. 

No lights on the perimeter- at least not that she could see. Hm. She wasn’t too surprised- it was one of the bases known to G.U.N., even if they hadn’t raided it, and she’d long suspected the good Doctor had a bug in their coms. Her ears twitched, swiveling in their orbits as she glanced around. So Eggman probably wasn’t home- but he also had a tendency to leave nasty surprises for would-be intruders. Not that much would sneak up on a bat in the dark-

A heavy foot pressed a piece of foliage underneath- Rouge leapt vertically, sinking fingers and pick nails into a nearby tree. In moments she’d scaled twelve feet off the ground- and not a moment too soon, as a heavy-shouldered shape padded into the clearing, recessed head spinning in place to take in the clearing. Faintly, she picked up the sound of humming- and noticed a pair of broad, folded shields on its back. The robot fanned them, revealing its back was loaded with crackling dynamos- and the casings blazed to life momentarily, revealing it.

Fricking Egg Beetles. Of _course_. Slow-moving, virtually blind to anything not in motion, and also a nearly indestructible metal hulk packing enough voltage to drop a bull rhinoceros. She’d dealt with those on her first assignment to Eggman. 

Grudgingly, she supposed it was a heartening sign that the base was at least decently important. She held to the tree, waited as the Beetle made its ponderous way through the underbrush and out of sight. Only when its characteristic droning had faded from earshot did she kick off her foothold and make a beeline for the outer wall. 

Beyond the fortifications stretched a field blazing with life and attended by the ponderous shapes of no less than a dozen Beetles. Egg Pawns milled in the space in between, some of them tending to the Beetles, others carrying crates or piloting open-cockpit gliders. She picked up their indistinct chatter, under the sound of the Beetles. Ugh, that noise was going to give her a migraine…

“You owe me a ruby for this, Knuckles.” she muttered through gritted teeth, and vaulted over the fence.

The procession was childlike in its simplicity- sort of like the world’s most high-stakes game of Red Light, Green Light. Riddled with obstacles as the base’s yard was, there were ample places to hide. She simply had to guarantee that in the process of working her way inward that a nice, heavy storage container remained between her and any Beetles looking her way. It went nearly seamless- except towards the end. The loading entrance she’d chosen gaped open, blissfully unattended by those that had left it that way. 

It also lay immediately under a spotlight, in a wide open stretch with no barriers. 

Rouge scowled, stretching her defensive crouch into a runner’s ready stance. This was her vacation, it was supposed to be a time to take it easy.

She launched forwards- and immediately the buzzing escalated into a high-pitched warning.

Five feet from the door.

Beep. Beep. Beep

Three feet.

Beep beep beep beep

Two-

beepbeepbeepbeep

Almost there-!

The shriek of electricity discharging into the air drowned out all the other sounds of the base- white-hot lightning seared by, close enough that Rouge could taste the crackle in the air. She slid into the base heels-first, immediately slammed the door-close button and threw herself forwards, zigzagging down multiple halls to throw the Beetle off in case it got through before the door shut. It was only behind the armored door of a darkened ammunitions depot that she finally stopped, and extended her throbbing wing.

The shock had caught her near the thumb, travelling down the body of the wing to ground itself through one of her heels. Not a direct hit- she would’ve been cooked alive if that had been the case- but enough to leave it burnt and sore. 

“Shoot.” she hissed, trying to extend it. It acquiesced reluctantly, the fingers trembling. She’d have to find another way off the island than how she’d come. Drawing the injured wing close to her back, she glanced around the room. A lighted computer terminal set next to a door beckoned to her, and she picked her way over to it. 

_ENTER PASSCODE_

Rouge’s fingers fluttered over the screen.

_PASSCODE DENIED._

Great. It’d be too much to ask for that Eggman would leave the same one from last month in effect. She frowned, debating her options- when suddenly the screen shifted. 

_INTRUSION DETECTED._

The base was protected by AI. Go figure, the Doctor could actually stand to have a mind around besides his own. Not that Rouge hadn’t planned for that little contingency- from a pocket, Rouge produced a small black card and swiped it through. The text on the screen shuddered and blinked. 

“See how you like _that_ one,” she purred, tapping the card to her lips. Malware wasn’t exactly her specialty, but you learned to dabble in these things. Sure enough, the screen flashed a green _okay_! (with a grinning Eggman caricature for good measure), and the door slid into the wall. It twitched a few times, as if the AI was still fighting- Rouge clipped the card back to her belt and headed through the door before the system could make up its mind. 

If there was an AI, that meant there had to be a pretty impressive central computer in this place. And hopefully, its databanks would have something about that anomaly. Eggman had a track record of tampering with higher forces, and even if he wasn’t behind this one in particular, he had a better sensor array than even G.U.N.’s. Tapping into Eggman’s network would make hunting down the epicenter of the reaction effortless- and if he had a Chaos Emerald to his name, all the sweeter. 

She came to another door- and frowned, seeing it locked. Glancing at the screen, she saw something very odd- the screen had blanked, Eggman’s logo being replaced by a spinning red ring. Door systems on the fritz, huh. Rouge sighed, swiping her bangs to one side as she sized up the door. Roughly six feet tall, industrial-strength locks at four points…

A series of four sickening, metal-on-metal crunching sounds ensued.

Rouge flexed her foot, lowering it as the door buckled inwards. 

The area beyond it was huge, vaulted ceiling stretching overhead. It was also wide open, some kind of huge metal track running through the center of the room. On either end, it curved away in the distance. Some kind of train system..? Why just around the center control room?

The thought was blasted out of her mind by klaxons, the entire room bathing in red light. For a moment all she could do was cringe, palms pressed over her sensitive ears. The moment she recovered, she turned back the way she’d come- only to find it sealed by some kind of fire door. 

And under the sirens, she could hear something- something _buzzing_ , louder than any Beetle she’d ever heard.

A colossal shape rounded the corner, humming along on its track, its single eye fixed on her.

“Oh no.” Rouge breathed. 


	5. Crawl Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **The Digispace tended to take things extremely literally- often in such a way that she couldn’t help but feel like the realm itself had a sense of humor.**

a Sonic collaboration between [radioactivesupersonic](http://tmblr.co/m2UafjHIDQaAMv1wZXc0l6A) and yours truly 

**Team Lazurite,** _Ch. 4: Crawl Space_

Some people liked to say the digital space of Mobius had predated any technology to access it- that it had simply existed, imperceptible, alongside the physical world. The notion was, of course, absurd, but not enough to be easily dismissed- and as someone who spent an extended amount of time in that empty, crystalline world, Nicole had to admit there was something timeless about it. Developing outside of her coding’s parameters had given her more ideas of how to access it, how to utilize it for the Federation’s cause, but it never truly felt hers to control. 

As eerie as it sounded, it was also rather exciting. Mapping the terrain, venturing into distant regions between missions- it had become something of a personal project. And it paid dividends.

Like it was doing right now.

Eggman hadn’t taken much interest the digital world- at least, not much in defending his sections of it. The implicit assumption seemed to be that none would dare challenge his technical mastery by taking him on in a purely digital format. This little fact made it all the more easier for her to sneak in through a backdoor, and Mighty and Ray’s coordinates were as good as a flashing neon arrow. Like the one that was… right… over her location.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Nicole deadpanned as she touched down right before a red door adjourned with Eggman’s classic symbol. The Digispace tended to take things extremely literally- often in such a way that she couldn’t help but feel like the realm itself had a sense of humor.

The door looked similar enough those in his bases, and with a swipe of her hand, sure enough an entry panel appeared to her left. It took her a full two minutes (she was dealing with man named Robotnik for a reason; overconfident he might be, but there was some basis to it) to gain access, the door spinning on an invisible axle to reveal a Red Star Ring where the Eggface had been. 

Nicole stood for a moment to admire her work before remembered that something that Sally had said: 

_“The Foundation needs stay anonymous, even in DigiSpace. Before you go into Eggman’s system you need to make hide all traces of your origin.”_

Nicole took a step back and closed her eyes as she envisioned the best cover before she entered. In a flash of lavender light, her Foundation issue sleek blue and white catsuit with white sneakers was gone. Black topped and white-palmed gloves replaced standard white, her sneakers white tipped before turning black and then white at the base covering her ankle, leading into her black leggings that connected to white and lavender dress-cape. 

She looked over her new coding and everything seemed to be in order. There was certainly no way Eggman would assume she was part of the Foundation, merely just some random piece of coding that he must have made. With her disguise set and mind free of worry, she crossed through the threshold. 

“Whoa.”

What she found stopped her in her tracks. 

Nicole looked around in awe, stepping forward in the space. Surrounding her was what looked like a fully functioning factory. Every detail was spot on to the point where anybody but her would have been believed it to be real. The only thing that separated it was how pixelated it was and the digital firebugs that Eggman had in place that were wandering around. 

Nicole had strolled along before within the workings of the Egg Network, but this was something well beyond even Eggman’s capabilities. The idea that this base maybe more than a “simply large storage unit” as Mighty and Ray had informed them wasn’t lost on her either.   

But why was this system so much more advanced than the others? It was reminiscent of how the network in the Acorn Kingdom responded after she had experimented with its structure. The ordinarily vacant, bland landscape had taken on new complexities of detail, mirroring the physical world. 

Almost exactly like what now sat in front of her. Which shouldn’t have been possible- no matter _how_ smart Eggman was, he had barely tampered in Digispace- and he couldn’t feel and interact with it the way she did. 

This was a problem. Nicole hid her traces thoroughly- copying files instead of removing them, making minimal alterations. The Foundation as a whole operated as far under the radar as possible- if he had somehow realized the avenue through which he was losing data, their other agents could be in danger. 

...No, that’d be ridiculous. Going from a few tampered files to the conclusion that an organization of underground Mobians was directly trying to thwart his advances into global domination was such an absurd leap of logic that even if it occurred to him, he’d dismiss it as idiocy on the spot. Nicole eyed the bugs contemplatively- she’d just have to be careful. More than usual, at least.

If this space was modelled after one of Eggman’s factories, then the easiest place to access information would have taken the form of a central control hub. And, while circuitous, Digispace had certain tendencies of design that made it obvious where to go, if you knew what to look for. Even from where she stood, it was easy to locate the large tower like structure in the center. Pulsating blue light shoot up and then down in a rhythm of two clicks pers second before flashing through the floor. 

As this wasn’t her first mission, it was fairly simple to reach the control room. The fact that it was fairly uneventful with hardly any run-ins with the crawlers had been strange, but Nicole had written it off as them being distracted by primary programming. It was when she stepped into the room, that she sensed something off.

In an instant, the light pulsating outside shifted to a blood red and the door behind her disappeared. 

****

“And what do we have here?” Came a booming, all encompassing voice.

**Author's Note:**

> Several months, I came to wonder what if SEGA actually acknowledged have of the population and used on of their most recognizable franchised to do so? A Sonic Adventure style story where the ladies were the heroes, the villians, and those in-between. A collaboration between my friend, tumblr user radioactivesupersonic, this is a fic of this story.


End file.
